Withdrawal of nationality: Collective punishment policy against prisoners of conscience’s families
The nationalities of a wife and children of a detainee demanding reforms in the country were withdrawn before they became stuck in another country.
The wife of the detainee Abdel Salam Darwish, a convict in the case known in the media as “Emirates 94,” said that she was surprised by the withdrawal of the nationality of her children after she left the country for a medical treatment for one of her children.
“Why is this discrimination against my family? What crime my children and husband did that their nationality is withdrawn and deprived of their national rights guaranteed by the constitution? Is it because we sincerely love our country, the UAE, and try so hard to make it better with science and development?!” she added.
For her part, Hanan Al Marzouqi said, “The official authorities did not allow us to see the presidential decree that orders the withdrawal of our nationalities at a time we do not have any other citizenship.. When we asked to see the presidential decree, the employee’s reply was, ‘I do not have any decree.’ Is that how simple they take away our citizenship?!”
The Emirates Center for Studies and Media (EMACS) said that this behavior is not new as the UAE State Security Service had previously withdrawn the nationality of a number of the sons and daughters of the detainee Sheikh Muhammad Al-Siddiq and threatened to withdraw citizenship from other members of families of detainees who were imprisoned for demanding reforms.
The UAE authorities withdrew the citizenship of activists and human rights defenders in 2011 because they signed a reform petition. Furthermore, they were deprived of their right to file an administrative and judicial complaint against the decision.
At least 30 people, relatives of six dissidents, are currently banned from traveling while 22 relatives of three dissidents are not allowed to renew their identity documents. Most of the relatives of the opponents faced restrictions on obtaining jobs and pursuing higher education between 2013 and 2019.
Citizenship is in the hands of the State Security Department
Article 8 of the UAE constitution stipulates that “The citizens of the Union shall have a single nationality which shall be prescribed by law. When abroad, they shall enjoy the protection of the Union Government in accordance with accepted international principles. No citizen of the Union may be deprived of his nationality nor may his nationality be withdrawn except in exceptional circumstances which shall be defined by law.”
Law defines the reasons for withdrawing nationality, through the Emirati judiciary, but in most cases people only know of the withdrawal of their nationality when they try to renew their passports by a decision of the State Security Department which has unknown – and seemingly unlimited – powers to control most of the authorities and bodies in the country.
In September 2017, the institution responsible for citizenship and identity in the Emirates became officially affiliated with the State Security Department, and not the Ministry of the Interior.
